Civil and Human Rights Coalition Applauds Education Department Civil Rights Enforcement on School Discipline Disparities in Oklahoma City

WASHINGTON – Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, released the following statement to comment on the recent settlement agreement between Oklahoma City Public Schools and the U.S. Department of Education to address the significant overrepresentation of Black students in school discipline decisions:

“Oklahoma City’s schools embody a troubling trend nationwide: children of color being needlessly criminalized and subject to unjustified punishment that pushes them out of the classroom.

Schools are supposed to nurture young people and help them to become better adults, not to shun them based on their race or gender or disability. 

We are encouraged that the Office for Civil Rights has continued its strong work to protect the civil rights of all our students in all our schools and hope that this recent agreement will serve to reinforce the importance of equitable school discipline policies and practices in ensuring equal opportunity in education. 

Progress on the agreement, and the improved education for these students, requires the full inclusion of diverse students and parents in decision-making and a greater focus on equity.

We look forward to the faithful implementation of the agreement, a reduced reliance on exclusionary discipline, and an elimination of discriminatory treatment of students in Oklahoma City’s public schools. We applaud the Department of Education for this work and encourage it to proactively take steps toward even more civil rights enforcement nationwide.”

Wade Henderson is president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its 200-plus member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.

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